24.07.2012

After the “exit” of Paul Schimmel - the long time chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the firing of key staff, as well as the resignation of the museum’s four artist-trustees (Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Catherine Opie and Barbara Kruger) MOCA’s director, Jeffrey Deitch had been rather silent, making no comment to the media.  Deitch has now spoken to the LA Times about the situation, and rejects the accusation that the institution has lost its artistic bearings and is increasingly under the control of Eli Broad. He commented, “it is fantastic for this museum that Eli’s building his building across the street. We need more critical mass here…Eli has been an absolutely great patron with us. He’s so totally supportive…I know that there’s this conspiracy theory. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s not the case”
In a recent essay The New York Times art critic Roberta Smith, responded to the situation with slight indicement of both Deitch and Broad, “For all his missteps, though, it is much too simplistic to blame Mr. Deitch alone for the air of crisis that now surrounds the museum. He has certainly hurt its image and he has failed to make much of a dent in its more urgent financial problems. But he did not create those. They preceded him by many years and are part of a tortuous history with many players. The museum has long been financially fragile; its board has rarely provided the kind of financial support that an institution of its quality requires and deserves. It continues not to, which brings us back to Mr. Broad…Given Mr. Broad’s fraught history with other Los Angeles museums, his denials about taking over this one remain hard to trust.”